Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Flan can be a great dessert too !


Flan aux Oeufs (egg flan)

I love flan ! It's that light sweet texture that dissolves in your mouth, leaving an eggy-milky taste behind. It does not make you full, yet it satisfies your sugar craving. Perfect! Add some caramel and maybe a light biscuit soaked with extra flavors and you just made a great dessert to top a heavy meal. I recently discovered the mexican version at the local mexican store. Texture is much heavier, likely from flour or corn starch. It's delicious but this one will fill you up !

My recipe is quick and easy. Never one to waste, I usually make flan to use up leftover milk before it gets bad. Either that or I make crepes :) I added some lady fingers to it to spruce it up a bit, both visually and for taste. By the way, here are, in my opinion, the three wonders of lady fingers: you can buy them cheap, they are small and easy to arrange, they will soak up anything you throw at them. Don't be surprised if you see more of them in my recipes, I always have a box handy at home! Here, I used diluted Grand Marnier to flavor the lady fingers. During baking, the alcohol dissipated but it left behind a faint orangy taste that I love. And the lady fingers were all soft and moist from absorbing the cream. Pure Heaven!

Ingredients:
  • 4 cups of whole milk
  • 5 eggs
  • 1/2 cup of sugar
  • vanilla extract (1/4 teaspoon)
  • 8-10 lady fingers
  • 1 teaspoon of your favorite liquor (optional)

Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven at 320F.
  2. Beat the eggs with vanilla extract.
  3. Boil the milk with sugar.
  4. Add the hot milk to the eggs in small portions (to avoid curling) while stirring with a whisk.
  5. Dilute the liquor with water (to your liking!) and quickly dip the lady fingers. Don't soak them or they won't absorb the cream anymore.
  6. Place the lady fingers in a pan made of porcelain or pyrex and pour the warm cream on top. Let the lady fingers absorb the liquid for 15 minutes, then bake at 320F in the oven for 45 minutes.
  7. Serve warm or cold. Fresh berries are great accompaniments.

No comments:

Post a Comment